As I Am
As I Am is an comic book series published by DC Comics, with the first issue coming out on June 3, 2003. The series is a part of the Nightverse and is another of the universe's supernatural titles. Synopsis Many years ago, the angel Aseam sided with the Devil during his battle with God. This ended in his banishment but unlike other angels who sided with him, Aseam begged for forgiveness and was granted it, as he was sent to Earth instead of Hell like the others. Now in the present day, Aseam wants to get back into Heaven and sets out on a quest to do so. Characters Main *Aseam: A fallen angel who wields twin pistols that fire bullets of hatred and sadness. He decides to get back into heaven by doing as many good things as he can. His name is pronounced "As-I-Am", hence the comic's name, and he wears a gas mask. *Samantha Steele: A college student who Aseam saves and gets involved in his life. She serves as his angel on his right shoulder. *Ryan: A demon in the body of a bulldog who serves as the devil on Aseam's left shoulder. Supporting *Chelsea Sands: A detective whose father had an obsession with the supernatural. *Father McLoughlin: A priest who Aseam speaks to regularly. *Cain & Abel: The tellers of secrets and mysteries. Antagonists * Demogorgon: One of the Seven Princes of Hell who represents greed and leads his six other brothers. He serves as the series' main antagonist and believes that everything created belongs to him, including Heaven, Hell, and Earth. ** Aamon: One of Demogorgon's brothers who represents gluttony. His main attack attempting to eat his enemy. ** Adrammelech: One of Demogorgon's brothers who represents pride. He is known for gloating about his accomplishments. ** Behemoth: One of Demogorgon's brothers who represents wrath. It is unlike the others, as it is actually an animal, being a combination of an elephant, a rhino, and a buffalo. ** Isacaron: One of Demogorgon's brothers who represents sloth. He is eternally sleeping and can warp reality around him by doing so. ** Barbatos: One of Demogorgon's brothers who represents lust, they are able to transform into a person's dream girl/guy while their true form is a strange creature made of hair. ** Beelzebub: The lord of the flies and one of Demogorgon's brothers who represents envy. * Lucinda Creel: The mayor Of the town Aseam lives in who is secretly a mysterious demon. * The Angel Butcher: A hunchbacked creature who hunts down and butchers angels. * The Crooked Man: A man with a broken face and a body which bends in ways no normal human can. * Dollmaker: Another human criminal obsessed with dolls. She is known for speaking in broken sentence fragments often ending in "and then the dollhouse fell." * Abaddon: An angel of hell who is completely gold and often compares himself to a dragon. Issues #"The Angel of Manhattan": A college student named Samantha Steele is attacked by a strange creature and is saved by a winged man who she identifies as the Angel of Manhattan. #"Fallen": After her encounter with the angel, Samantha tracks him down and meets his pet demonic dog, Ryan. The angel reveals his name to be Aseam and explains his origin story to her. #"The Many Forms of Hell": Aseam reveals that the mayor of the city herself, named Lucinda Creel, is actually a demonic spirit who Aseam has been hunting for quite some time. After finding this out, Samantha demands to be a part of Aseam's team. #"Hatred and Sadness": Aseam's guns are stolen by Lucinda, who plans on using them in a ritual to summon her god, so he works with Samantha and Ryan to stop her. #"Honour Thy Father": After finding out that her father has died, Samantha works with Ryan and Aseam to honour his final wish: to scatter his ashes where he and her mother first met. #"I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream": Lucinda creates a creature to kill Aseam. The creature is in eternal pain and longs for death but is forced to live. #"Cult": Father McLoughlin, a friend of Aseam's, reveals that before becoming a Catholic he was a part of a dangerous cult who worshipped his father and that his own brother, named David, has tracked him down to bring him back. #"In My Name": Aseam battles McLoughlin's family to save him, ending in McLoughlin's father accidentally burning the place to the ground. Afterward, McLoughlin mourns his lost family but attempts to get back to his work, happy that he no longer has anything to fear. #"The Ritual": Lucinda manages to win in a battle and once again steals Aseam's guns, this time succeeding in the ritual. This destroys both of the guns and summons six demons. #"Princes of Hell": The six demons, Aamon, Adrammelch, Behemoth, Isacaron, Barbatos, and Beelzebub, begin the second part of the ritual with Lucinda while Aseam is broken out of his cell by Samantha, with Ryan unwillingly tagging along. #"Number Seven": The ritual is complete and the six demons summon their seventh brother, known as Demogorgon. Demogorgon then absorbs Lucinda's powers before battling Aseam and his allies. The battle doesn't go well at first until Aseam reaches into Demogorgon's chest and pulls out his pistols, using them to blow off Demogorgon's arm. After this, the seven Princes of Hell retreat, with Aseam confessing to Samantha that while Lucinda is taken care of they have a whole new threat to deal with. #"The Angel Butcher": While searching for a weapon to deal with Demogorgon, Aseam encounters a man known as the Angel Butcher, who has been slaughtering angels for quite some time. #"The Crooked Man: Chapter One": The group encounters the Crooked Man, a serial killer who is obsessed with the song "There Was A Crooked Man", with him proving his strength when he breaks Aseam's hands. #"The Crooked Man: Chapter Two": While Aseam tries to find a way of fixing his hands, Samantha tries to deal with the Crooked Man, encountering a woman named Chelsea Sands while searching for him. #"The Crooked Man: Chapter Three": Samantha is arrested by Chelsea for getting involved in police activity, while Aseam encounters the tellers of secrets and mysteries themselves, Cain and Abel. #"The Crooked Man: Chapter Four": Aseam manages to pass through trials Cain and Abel had set up for him and in return his hands are restored to working order. Meanwhile, Chelsea encounters the Crooked Man who reveals he loves her. #"The Crooked Man: Chapter Five": After his rejection, the Crooked Man kidnapped Chelsea and Father McLoughlin and plans on forcefully marrying her. Luckily, Aseam returns home just in time for the two to have their final battle, which ends in his wings being revealed to Chelsea and the Crooked Man accidentally hanging himself. As thanks for him saving her, Chelsea agrees to keep Aseam's secret and frees Samantha. #"The Black Wolf of the Forest": The group visit a small town, which Ryan and Samantha believe is a break from everything but are disappointed when they find out the town is being terrorized by a large monster wolf and Aseam decides to handle it. #"The Fight of Midnight": Everyone is confused when Aseam stands perfectly still until midnight, but it becomes clear why as when the wolf shows up he instantly begins battling it, ending in it bursting into smoeak. #"Pride": The team find out that the wolf was actually an extension of Adrammelech and are forced to battle him, ending in Aseam breaking his neck. The group leaves, with Aseam ticking Adrammelech's name off of his list of Princes of Hell. Meanwhile, the other Princes are sent a box which contains Adrammelech's dead body, meaning that Aseam is coming for them next. #"The Competition": Samantha has become obsessed with a cooking contest that is being filmed in town, with her wanting the solid gold statue that will be awarded to the winner. To make her happy, Aseam enters the competition, with it quickly going nuts. #"MIA": Unfortunatley, Aseam's actions at the cooking contest made an unknown person realize he is an angel, kidnapping Samantha until he exposes himself. #"The Plastic of my Skin": Aseam finds not just Samantha, but multiple missing people who have been trapped in plastic suits by the deranged Dollmaker, who believes that Aseam will be the perfect finishing touch to her "collection". #"And Then The Dollhouse Fell": Aseam and Dollmaker have their final battle, and since Samantha can not speak in her suit Aseam is forced to listen to Ryan, who convinces him to free the beast. Aseam manages to defeat Dollmaker and what he does next isn't shown, but Dollmaker is seen with half of her body being covered in plastic. Everyone is freed, but Samantha becomes slightly afraid of Aseam after what he did. #"My Brother, My Enemy": Aseam finds out that Father McLoughlin's brother, David, is alive (but heavily deformed) and has kidnapped McLoughlin. The two confront each other, with David realizing that Aseam is an angel before being gunned down by police. #"The Man": Aseam finds out Samantha has begun dating a man and becomes heavily suspicious of him. Ryan claims that it is jealousy, but Aseam repeatedly claims that he can never fall in love. #"Lust": Aseam's suspicions are not in vain, as Samantha has been brainwashed by the man and is about to be sacrifices to Barbatos. Luckily, the day is saved when Ryan burns Barbatos alive. Both Samantha and Aseam question Ryan on this, but he refuses to say anything. #"Ryan": Samantha keeps trying to find out why Ryan saved her and eventually manages to get him to confess, with Ryan revealing that he isn't a demon dog but a demon trapped in a dog's body and he needs a pure heart to free him, believing that Samantha is that pure heart. #"I Hear My Name": Aseam has a recurring dream where a strange man keeps calling his name, and so he decides to investigate, finding out from Cain and Abel that the voice is real and is coming from limbo. #"Limbo": Aseam enters a state where he is able to enter limbo without being trapped there. He encounters many different strange creatures and people while there, eventually making it to a room full of mirrors. #"The Mirror Room": Whenever Aseam looks into a mirror he is shown a vision from his life. All of them are good, but they continue to get worse and worse as they go along, ending in a vision where he kills his own twin brother. #"Brother of Mine": Still in limbo, Aseam encounters his own twin. The two have a short conversation, ending in Aseam attempting to take his own life. #"The Dragon": Aseam, now in a white void, is told a story by a female voice which ends in the reveal that he is still alive. Aseam pieces the story together and realizes that he didn't try to kill his brother, the vision was showing his brother trying to kill him. Aseam's brother, revealed to be named Abaddon, attempts to kill him but it ends in Aseam throwing Abaddon into hell itself. The issue ends with a picture of a woman with the same voice as earlier cradling a baby Aseam and Abaddon. #"Blaze of Glory": While Aseam is gone, Samantha and Ryan are attacked by the remaining Princes of Hell, who burn their base to the ground. Once they get out of the base, it's revealed half of Manhattan is on fire. #"From Bad to Worse": The Princes reveal their existence, with Demogorgon claiming he will only stop when Aseam reveals himself. Samantha, Ryan, Chelsea, and Father McLoughlin all work together to try and save the day, but it doesn't go well. #"Armageddon": The group is attacked and just before they are killed by Isacaron and Behemoth, Aseam returns and shoots both of them dead. #"Alpha": The group takes on the rest of the Princes of Hell, who are terrorizing the Empire State Building. Thanks to having Aseam back, they do far better and manage to defeat most of them, with the final one being Demogorgon who, after finding out all of his brothers are dead, absorbs their powers into himself, becoming a massive beast which begins wreaking havoc. #"Omega": Everyone is involved in the battle against Demogorgon, the army, the government, etc., and none of them are doing any damage to him. Not even religious symbols or Aseam's bullets can harm him anymore. Aseam does have an idea, as he pulls down his sleeves and reveals bracelets on his arms which he removes. He begs everyone to not record what he is about to do and makes sure no one does as he removes his mask. Demogorgon realizes that Aseam is actually an archangel as Aseam lets out massive amounts of energy which cause all of the flames to go out before hitting Demogorgon, causing him to be sent back to hell. After this, Aseam puts his bracelets and mask back on before a beam of light hits him. He is taken to heaven, where he meets his mother, who offers him a place among the angels once again. However, despite all he's done, Aseam doesn't feel he has earned it and chooses to return to Earth with all of his friends, who are extremely happy with his choice, as all of them have developed an unbreakable friendship with him. Adaptions * As I Am(CW, 2012–present) Trivia *Aseam's recurring pose in the series where he tilts his hands makes devil horns with one and spreads the other's fingers is him "showing he doesn't fully have horns or wings". Category:Comics Category:DC Comics